Thank You From Egypt

By IHP, Feb 13 2017 05:40PM

International Health Partners recently received positive feedback from one of our newest partners, St Mark Universal Copts Care (StMUCC), that a donation of medicines arrived safely at Om-Elmasryen Hospital in Egypt.

Dr Naser Fouad, StMUCC’s Chairman, met with the Egyptian Minister of Health who agreed on accepting donated medicines, sorting out all the customs clearance in Egypt and assigning the donated medicines to the hospitals in most need. The first pallet donated from IHP to StMUCC was assigned to Om El Masryen Hospital in Giza Governorate.

The hospital is a busy public hospital in Giza with a population in the city and surrounding villages of more than seven million people. It treats approximately 3000 out-patients a day free of charge and is one of Egypt’s poorest and most deprived hospitals. Because of this Egypt’s Ministry of Health assigned the pallet of more than 2000 units of medicines consisting of antibiotics, antifungal drugs, painkillers, diabetic medication, there.

StMUCC’s Programmes Manager, Andrew Mikhael, who oversaw the shipment to Egypt, said, “All the contents of the pallet were separately stored in the hospital’s pharmacy waiting for us to go and acknowledge its safe arrival. I was able to make a thorough audit of the content of the donated pallet and to see how the medicine will be dispensed later on to people who are really in need.” Andrew and his team agreed with the hospital and pharmacy managers to separately dispense the contents of the donated pallet, hence they will be able to measure its impact on the service provided in the hospital.

“From my visit, I can say that although it was only a pilot shipment with relatively small quantities of medicines, the gratitude we received from the hospital’s staff shows how much of a need there is in such a hospital which serves millions of needy people free of charge,” Andrew continued.

The hospital’s management expressed their gratitude to IHP and corporate donors and promised to report back the impact of the donated medicines in the hospital’s various departments.

IHP’s Programme Officer, Luc Diei-Yoa, said, “We are extremely pleased to receive the positive news that the shipment has arrived and its contents are already being used. This was a pilot shipment and we’re looking forward to a fruitful partnership with St Mark’s going forward. They are doing crucial work by providing much needed assistance to Egypt’s poorest communities and access to medicines plays a major role in this.”